Texas A&M Grads Fare Well In PayScale ROI Survey

Texas A&M University continues to rank tops in Texas among public universities and among the top 10 public institutions nationally on a return-on-investment (ROI) basis — what graduates earn in their careers compared to their college costs — according to the 2012 rankings by PayScale, a Seattle-based compensation data firm, and published by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Texas A&M ranks 8th nationally among public institutions and 60th overall in the new ROI rankings that are typically dominated by private institutions. The 60th place overall ranking for Texas A&M represents an 11-place jump compared to its standing in PayScale’s previous survey in 2010. Rice University is the only Texas institution to rank higher.

Traditionally, Texas A&M ranks high in national surveys about colleges and universities, particularly those that have “best value” perspectives. In a survey with a focus similar to that taken by PayScale, Smart Money magazine ranked Texas A&M first nationally in 2011 for “payback ratio”— which the magazine defined as the earnings levels of an institution’s graduates compared to what they paid in tuition, fees and related costs for their undergraduate educations.

The Wall Street Journal ranked Texas A&M second nationally in a 2010 survey based on employers’ satisfaction with an institution’s graduates.

Texas A&M also fared well in a recent New York Times listing of what business leaders worldwide say are the top institutions from which they recruit — and ranked first in Texas. The New York Times spread, titled “What business leaders say,” is based on responses from “hundreds of chief executive and chairmen chosen from leading companies in 10 countries,” according to a notation explaining the selection process. The polling that produced the list of 150 institutions was conducted by the surveying company Emerging. Overall, Texas A&M placed 58th — and eighth among public U.S. universities and first among all public or private universities in the Southwest or deep South.

More than 3,000 employers, including 80 percent of the Fortune 100 companies, recruit at Texas A&M each year, according to records maintained at its Career Center. Personnel there also report that job opportunities posted for Texas A&M students increased 95 percent from 2009-10 to 2010-11 — from 4,600 to 9,100.

Overall results of Pay Scale’s 2012 survey, including several statistical categories, can be viewed at http://www.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/colleges_return_on_investment.html, with a related article at http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-09/college-roi-what-we-found.

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